The Secret Battle : Emotional Survival in the Great War (Cultural History of Modern War)

Roper, Michael

Manchester University Press（2010/08発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 368 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780719083860
• DDC分類 940.31

Full Description

What did home mean to British soldiers and how did it help them to cope with the psychological strains of the Great War? Family relationships lie at the heart of this book. It explores the contribution letters and parcels from home played in maintaining the morale of this largely young, amateur army. And it shows how soldiers, in their turn, sought to adapt domestic habits to the trenches. Pursuing the unconscious clues within a rich collection of letters and memoirs with the help of psychoanalytical ideas, including those formulated by the veteran tank commander Wilfred Bion, this study asks fundamental questions about the psychological resources of this generation of young men. It reveals how the extremities of battle exposed the deepest emotional ties of childhood, and went on marking the post-war domestic lives of those who returned.

Contents

Preface
Introduction
PART I: MOTHERS AND SONS
1. Keeping in touch
2. Separation and support
PART II: MOTHERING MEN
3. Staying alive
4. Learning to care
5. Love and loss
PART III: FALLING APART
6. Nameless dread
7. The return of the soldier
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index